Claycomo woman gets six years for mortgage-fraud scheme

A Kansas City-area woman who operated a real-estate business has been ordered to spend six years for her role in a $5 million mortgage fraud scheme.

Teresa Jean Whitten, 41, of Claycomo, Missouri, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri. She was also ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution.

Whitten pleaded guilty in November to charges of wire fraud, money laundering and theft of government money.

Prosecutors say that Whitten engaged in the fraud scheme from mid-2007 through early 2009 while doing business as Leadership to Homeownership.

The government alleges that Whitten also defrauded the Social Security program by getting nearly $80,000 in disability insurance benefits and auxiliary payments for her children to which she wasn’t entitled.

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 8:33 AM with the headline "Claycomo woman gets six years for mortgage-fraud scheme."